Ball projector



`lune 16, 1953 s, J.' MURPHY 2,642,058

BALL PROJECTOR Filed June 27, 1949 n INVENToRr STEPHEN .1. MURPHY ATTY Patented June 16, 1953 A UNITD f STATE-s PATE-NT oFFicE' Stephen J. Murphy, Torrington, Conn., assignor of :one-sixth toEr-nest L. Cattey, Torrington, 16min. 'f Application June`27, 1949,Serial Nn. 101,557 l y '1 claim. (o1. raie-'26!) v 'l lThis invention relates 'to 'games and rmore p'arbar'35 for supportinga cylindrical barrel 40 which 'ticu'larly to lan apparatus for playing games of has a slight upward inclination in .a forward the type in which `balls or ldisks Yare yprojected direction, land whichis 's ecured'to the block by over .the-surface .of a level board or alley. `meansnf. ,la pair ofl istraps 4l, 42, vof f inverted One object of this invention is to provide a zI5 'Ufshape board yof the above nature in which the gun A(The rear 'endportion ofthe swingablebar3'5 is mounting is adjustablezsoastcprovide free horiprovided with an upstanding U-'shaped 'block `43 zontal swinging and lateral sliding of the gun, which 4slidably carries a horizontal plunger 44 whereby the gun may be effectively aimed. having a cylindrical head 45 and 'a rear handle ,A further Objectis 'td'provide an apparatus 'l0 46,.a drivingcoil'springill embracingsaidplunger of `theabove nature which will besimple inconbetween said headandtheblock"43, `anda relastruction, inexpensive" to manufacture,` easy to tively short cushioning coil spring `48 embracing 'install and` manipulate, compact, vornarrierital -in 'said Aplungerbetween the bloickf43 and the handle appearance, and very efficient and durable Vin 46. The head 45prefer bly has a'facing 4f8aof use; l5 pressed plastic=impre`gnated laminated fabric, With these and other objects in view, there has and secured thereto by any suitable means such been illustrated on the accompanying drawing as rivets (not shown). one form in which the invention may conveniently A rear top portion of Vthe cylindrical barrel 40 be embodied in practice. is cut away so as to provide a semi-cylindrical In the drawing, 20 lower portion 49 in which the plunger head 45 is Fig. 1 is a side view of a gun for projecting slidably disposed, and which will permit the opballs for use in the bowling game, showing a porerator to insert a bowling ball 50 in front of said tion of the table in cross-section. head 45. Thus, it will be seen that the operator Fig. 2 is a Cross-sectional View 0f a portion of may draw the head 45 back against the force of the gun taken on the line l-I of Fig. 1. the driving spring 41, by means of the handle 46, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing and when said handle is released, the head 45 the construction of the plunger head in the gun will strike the ball 50 and project it forwardly of Fig. l, and a ball in operative relation thereto.' from the barrel 40. The spring 48 will, of course, Referring now to the drawings, in which like cushion the handle 46, near its extremity of forreference numerals denote Corresponding parts 3o ward movement, so that noisy and destructive throughout the several views, the numeral I3 impact of said handle 4B against the block 43 indicates a table for bowling, and provision is will be avoided. made of a ball gun 32 (Fig. l) having a rectangu- The upward inclination of the barrel 40 will lar base 33 which is transversely channeled in its tend to prevent the ball 50 from rolling forwardly lower surface so as to permit it to embrace the and thus leaving the barrel prematurely. Howstrips 3l while resting upon the table I3, and ever, in order to prevent the ball 50 from rolling which has a laterally extending bottom guide rearwardly when the plunger head is drawn rail 34 of inverted T-shape secured thereto. The back in preparation for a shot, the inside of the guide rail 34 is adapted to be inserted in the slot semi-cylindrical barrel portion 49 is provided with 29 outwardly of the ends of the pair of strips 3l, 40 an upward projection 5 l., the head 45 being slotted and then slid laterally so as to interlock with said in order to accommodate said projection. Thus, Strips and thus retain the gun 32 for transverse the ball 50 will be maintained positively in a sliding movement upon the table l0. position where it may be eiiiciently struck by the The rectangular base 33 carries a horizontally head 45 and projected forwardly through the swingable bar 35 which has a vertical shaft 36 45 barrel 40, extending downwardly through said base 33 and The opposite sides of the elongated block 39 through the guide rail 34. In order to retain the are preferably provided with a pair of horizontal swingable bar 35 frictionally against the upper handles 52, which may be grasped by one hand surface of the base 33, the lower end of the verof the operator so as to assist him in accurately tical shaft 36 is provided with a coiled spring 31 50 aiming the gun 32. Provision is also made of a which bears against the lower surface of the guide hooked handle 52a, which is secured to the lower rail 34 and is retained on said shaft by means of rear portion of the swingable bar 35, and which a cotter pin 38. may be grasped by the other hand of the operator A forwardly extending elongated block 39 is if desired so as to facilitate the aiming and opsecured to the upper surface of the swingable 55 eration of the gun 32.

Operation When the table I 0 is to be used for bowling, the gun base 33 will, of course, rest rmly upon the table I3, and the T-shaped guide rail 34 will be engaged under the edges of the strip 3l so that the gun 32 will have a stable means of support, while the player may move the gun laterally to any desired position, and also swing the gun upon the vertical shaft 36 so as to aim the gun accurately. l

The player may insert the ball 50 in the semicylindrical barrel portion 49, pull back the plunger 44 by means of the handle 46, aim the gun 32, and then release the handle 46 so that the spring 41 will drive the head 45 forwardly to strike the ball 50 and project it from the barrel 40.

While there has been disclosed in this speciiication one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim. Y

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

In a bowling ball projector for a game board, a base, a barrel mounted for horizontal swinging movement on said base, said barrel being upwardly tilted at its forward end to prevent the ball from leaving the barrel prematurely, a headed plunger at the rear of said barrel for propelling a ball through said barrel, a U-shaped guide block supported by said base for slidably holding said plunger, a coiled spring surrounding said plunger and engaging the guide block .and the plunger head, said barrel being cut away at thetop of its rear section to permit the ball to be `dropped therein into propelling position in front of said plunger, said plunger having a verticalfslot in its forward end, an upward projection in the rear portion of said barrel located in said slot to prevent the ball from following .said plunger rearwardly when it is retracted against its spring to loading position, a handle on the rear of said plunger, and a spring cushion located between said rear handle and said U- shaped guide block to reduce the noise of impact and to prevent injury to said handle.

STEPHEN J. MURPHY.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,329,952 Bond Feb. 3, 1920 1,608,447 Wade Nov. 23, 1926 2,109,639 Hawley Mar. l, 1938 2,247,769 Constant July 1, 1941 2,453,610 Willard Nov. 9, 1948 2,455,978 Colaluca Dec. 14, 1948 

